If Ottawa Senators’ president of hockey operations and general manager (GM) Steve Staios isn’t trying to trade for Boston Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark, he should be. His current goaltending duo of Joonas Korpisalo and Anton Forsberg is one of the worst in the NHL and if he’s riding those two horses after training camp his team is sure to miss the postseason for eight years running. He could avoid that heartache by getting Ullmark into a Senators uniform.
Related: Senators Have Been a Goaltending Carousel Since Anderson
Sure, in theory Staios has more options than just Ullmark to try to improve his crease. But let’s be realistic. He doesn’t have any goaltending prospects in Belleville who could help. Mads Sogaard showed he needed more seasoning in the American Hockey League (AHL) during his six games in Ottawa this season. As for signing a free agent, there simply isn’t a lot of talent up for grabs this summer. That leaves a trade as Staios’ only option to improve his goal.
I can’t think of a better one than Jakob Chychrun in return for 2023 Vezina Trophy winner Ullmark. But Staios had better hurry – there are plenty of teams said to be sniffing around the Bruins’ den for goaltenders!
What a Chychrun Trade for Ullmark Might Look Like
The deal could be a straightforward player-for-player hockey exchange. Chychrun is under contract for another full season and comes with a cap hit of $4.6 million, while Ullmark also becomes an unrestricted free agent (UFA) at the end of next season and has a contract with an average annual value (AAV) of $5 million.
There’s no question that the Bruins need to bolster their backend. Injuries and expiring contracts have taken their toll. Three Boston blueliners – Matt Grzelcyk, Derek Forbert and Kevin Shattenkirk become free agents on July 1.
Many in Boston think that the 30-year-old Ullmark is probably surplus to the team’s needs and could fetch the Bruins much-needed help for their D-corps. Apparently, it wasn’t for lack of trying that the Bruins failed to move Ullmark at the trade deadline this season. If Bruins management is confident that 25-year-old Jeremy Swayman is truly a starting goaltender, you can bet they’ll be aggressive in peddling Ullmark on the trade market this summer.
Tommy Bennett, my colleague at The Hockey Writers who covers the Bruins recently wrote about Ullmark’s value to Boston as a trade piece and the considerable interest he is generating across the NHL. In his article, Bennett went on at length about the upside for Boston of sending Ullmark to Ottawa in exchange for Chychrun. It certainly appears that we have two sides in Boston and Ottawa who feel the trade would make sense and are willing to tango.
Related: Bruins Can Maximize Linus Ullmark Return by Trading Him to the Senators
Even so, Bruins’ GM Don Sweeney is likely to put a high price on Ullmark. He is arguably the best goalie available this summer in a market short of them. A bidding war could drive up his price to include a roster player like Chychrun and possibly picks and prospects.
According to Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun, an unnamed NHL executive said he believes the Senators would likely have to offer Chychrun along with a first-round pick and another selection to acquire Ullmark (from ‘Garrioch: Senators likely will take another run at Boston’s Linus Ullmark in the off-season,’ The Ottawa Citizen, 5/23/24).
What Could Stand in the Way of a Senators Bid for Ullmark
Sweeney asking Ottawa for high picks in addition to Chychrun could be a deal-breaker. The Senators’ prospect pool is ranked 31st in the NHL’s prospect pool ratings and they can ill-afford to give away draft picks (from, Scott Wheeler, ‘Ottawa Senators are No. 31 in 2024 NHL prospect rankings,’ The Athletic, 1/31/24).
Another hurdle Ottawa faces in acquiring Ullmark is his modified no-trade clause and its list of 15 teams he won’t play for. Many believe that is why he is still in Boston. There is a very high likelihood that Ottawa is on his list and he’d nix a Beantown to Bytown goalie swap.
If Staios could work out a Chychrun-Ullmark trade, another problem arises – what does he do with Korpisalo? At the trade deadline according to Garrioch, it was rumoured that the Senators tried to convince Boston to take him as part of a trade package. Sweeney would have none of it.
And who could blame him? Any belief the gullible in Ottawa had that Korpisalo would prove to be a starting goaltender was extinguished long ago. Very few NHL GMs fell off a turnip truck and even those who did wouldn’t buy Korpisalo’s contract with its $4 million cap hit and four long, excruciating years of term remaining. I’m not sure there’s enough lipstick in all of Ottawa to make that pig look appealing.
Related: Senators Could Regret Joonas Korpisalo Contract
All of this means that Staios will have to move his number two puck-stopper Anton Forsberg. With his $2.75 million annual salary and one year of term left on his contract that would be much easier than shipping Korpisalo out of town.
Sweeney will also think twice before sending Ullmark to a divisional rival like Ottawa. If he had his druthers, and depending on the deal, I’m sure his first choice would be to send him out of the division and preferably out of the Eastern Conference.
Ottawa Senators’ Last Best Chance at Trading for Ullmark is Now
A goalie like Ullmark won’t last long on the open market this summer. Among his many suitors are rumoured to be the Toronto Maple Leafs, New Jersey Devils, Colorado Avalanche and Los Angeles Kings. If that’s true, I must believe that the goalie trade file is at the top of the pile on Staios’ desk right now.
In theory, if Staios misses on Ullmark it’s possible that he could pick up another netminder later – perhaps through an in-season trade. Even so, that will come too late for the Senators who need decent goaltending right out of the starting gates if they’re to be a playoff contender next season. Besides, in-season trades aren’t common in the NHL and generally happen only when teams think a goaltender will hit free agency unsigned and that they’ll lose him for nothing.
Off-season goalie trades are preferred because, as ex-NHL netminder Kevin Weekes pointed out, goalies have time to adjust to their new team, its systems and style of play, not to mention their new rink. That’s awfully difficult to do in-season (from, Eric Duhatschek, ‘Duhatschek notebook: Why there aren’t more in-season goalie trades. Patrick Laine’s latest woes,’ The Athletic, 3/12/21).
Besides, once the season gets underway most top goalies have been signed to long-term deals. While in days gone by teams had starting goaltenders and backups, with the starter playing 60 games or more, the preferred approach now is two solid goalies. That is to say, a 1A and a 1B – both equally talented and sharing the workload evenly. It’s difficult to find a goalie who could be a starter but isn’t because the starting stud between the pipes is hogging all the ice time. Those days are long gone in the NHL.
Stay tuned over the next few weeks. They’ll tell the tale of whether goaltending remains a boat anchor around Staios’ neck.
